Alta

 Today we are 38 kilometres from the open sea at the end of a northern facing fjord. This is quite important because it means that we are away from the warmer sea and the Gulf Stream so it is currently about -10 centigrade.

We set off just as the sun was rising, although that didn't affect the temperature.

We had a lovely walk through a forest from the dock to the centre of Alta. Once there we immediately found the beautiful modern church with the curly whirly spire.

We both made the terrible mistake of taking our gloves off for more than a few seconds to take photos, and it was made even worse because then we found an ice sculpture park and took the gloves off again.

It was then almost impossible to warm them up again, but we picked up the pace and headed back to the ship, taking a detour to a disused ski jump.

It had steps up to the top and looked terrifying.

Back on the ship the sun set before 3pm, and the beautiful pink sunset filled the sky.

Then just as we were having dinner an announcement was made that the northern lights were out. We jumped up between courses to have a look and they were the best that we have ever seen. Unfortunately we didn't have coats or cameras so didn't stay long, but we saw more of the lights after we had finished our puddings although they weren't anywhere near as spectacular.

Honningsvåg

Today we were in Honningsvåg at the very top of Norway. It was snowing although, not very cold so we set off on our trek.

Right opposite the ship was a statue of Bamse, a very big dog that went to sea with the sailors in WW2, and was very brave and popular. He also spent time at a port in Scotland, and after the war two identical statues were erected, pointing across the sea to each other.

Speaking of the war, the Nazi's occupied northern Norway in 1944 and destroyed every building in Honningsvåg apart from the church.

After the war people gradually moved back to the area and they lived inside the church whilst building new homes and businesses.

The sea did not look inviting for a paddle, and the hills were difficult to climb as the snow was deep, but we did our best to get around.

I took what I think is a nice photo to enter into the daily on board photography competition, although there are dozens of people on board with very fancy set ups, and we are just using our mobile phones.

BREAKING NEWS!!! The photograph that I entered yesterday actually won!! Unfortunately there was no prize, but I am very chuffed. This is the one I entered.

Sorry for bragging, but I just can't help it.

Tromsø

Today we are in Tromsø, capital city of the Arctic. On board the ship we have been learning how to pronounce the Norwegian letters with the little hats, circles, etc. The letter ø in Tromsø is surprisingly pronounced 'ugh', as in something very unpleasant, so you are meant to say Troms-ugh.

It sounds totally fine when the onboard crew say it, but totally wrong and taking the mickey when I try.

Around 75,000 people live here and so is very large compared to most other places that we have visited. They have some interesting architecture too and this is the aquarium. Strangely, the statue is a polar bear and not fish related at all.

The building looks like a stack of giant concrete blocks that are falling over, but it's supposed to be very good inside. 

The architecture matches the beautiful Arctic cathedral on the other side of the river. We have been there on a previous trip, but this time Daz only got a very poor photo of it as we were leaving.

No, those aren't bars on our window, we were sailing under a bridge as it passed out of sight.

Moving on, we walked uphill to a lovely lake, although this time there were no ice skaters as it was completely covered in snow.

This was the walk up through residential streets, and the snowman was already sitting on the lake when we reached it.

Svolvær

Today we arrived at Svolvær in the far northern Lofoten Islands.

It is so far north that the sun starts to announce it's arrival at least two hours in advance, if the sky is clear as it was today.

Then once it actually gets over the horizon it stays so low that you see another hour or so of sunrises.

It gives a beautiful effect and we just couldn't stop taking photos.

Today we were being a bit more careful on our walk as fresh snow covered the steps up to a viewpoint, and after only a few metres we realised that we could not get any further.

However, the view was superb, and the only question now was how to get back down.

This was the first time that I was genuinely scared on this trip, but fortunately Daz led the way by turning the steps into a toboggan run, and I just followed him.

Back at sea level we followed the route recommended by Hurtigruten. This took us through the town and out on a harbour to the cod drying racks.

These were enormous structures upon which the cod that is caught locally is dried. They only do it over winter and in a couple of months they should all be full. It was interesting but also pretty smelly.

Beyond the fish racks were absolutely superb sea views that almost bought a tear to my eye.

Right at the end of the harbour was a statue of a woman looking out to sea waiting for her husband to return from the sea.

Rorvik

 Another day in Norway, and we are getting further and further north. Today we stopped in the little town of Rorvik that it is noticeably colder than previous days.

We are only here for the morning, and so we set off before sunrise and enjoyed watching the sun come over the horizon part way through our journey.

The hills here are lower than in Ålesund yesterday, but there was more snow.

We walked up to the panorama on the top of the Gluggfjellet hill, and looked down on to the little Storvatnet lake.

We struggled down the mini mountain, and by the time we got to the lake it was full of school children on a little outing.

Then we found a lovely wide path that would have cut short our walk and taken us straight back to the town. This seemed like a cop out so we carried onwards and then went up a hill on the other side of the valley.

Darren climbed through a load of trees to get a closer photo of a frozen stream.

Shortly afterwards our path disappeared under the snow, and we tried our best to follow footsteps, but they kept disappearing. I slipped over twice and we started to get very cold.

However, it was only our hands that suffered and we knew that the ship was nearby.

We had one last thing to visit before we could get on board. In 2012 the local church burned down and it was replaced with a modern building.

We had seen a photo of it and it appeared to be covered in scaffolding.

However, that was the finished effect and here it is 

It's probably very warm and cosy inside, but I wasn't impressed.

Finally, on our cruise north we passed a famous mountain with a huge hole through the middle of it. The hole is over 30 metres high and 20 metres wide and was made naturally by erosion over millions of years.

Zoom in to the photo and you can see the scale as there are houses on the waterfront that look tiny in comparison.

Ålesund

 Another day, another hike. This time from the lovely town of Ålesund.

Our plan was to walk from the town to the mini mountain in the distance, hike to the top and then reverse it all back to the ship.

We made good time through the streets and then set off up the path.

Very quickly we realised that the path and a stream crossed each other's path quite frequently. This would normally just involve damp boots, but as the stream was completely frozen it became quite dangerous.

Most of the route was fine though, and the scenery was superb.

We got fairly close to the top and the ice appeared again, so we decided that we had done enough and turned back.

The walk back down was easier than we expected, but the last ice section sloped downhill and seemed too scary so I went down into a crawl and slid elegantly downwards. Unfortunately there is no photo.

In the town I found an interesting signpost that showed that we were 3,073 away from the north pole, but 16,931 from the south pole.

Back on the ship I found out that the ship had taken a group on a hike to the top of the trail. However, they supplied them all with walking poles and extra sharp walking spikes.